The United States is a country that surpasses any other nation in the world in defense spending. As a result, America has the most trained and equipped army on the planet. However, the United States faces a number of existential dangers, for which Washington is not ready, and under the "existential" threats are meant those that can make the further functioning of a democratic government in the country virtually impossible, writes Forbes.
These threats are only briefly mentioned in the US national strategy, either because they have never been implemented, or because they have no simple solution. Unfortunately, the vulnerability of the United States to these dangers may in the future give America's adversaries the ability to deliver effective strikes, writes Forbes, offering a closer look at these threats.
Man-made pandemics. Pandemics are epidemics that have affected numerous areas, or perhaps even the entire world. Over the past few centuries, history has known several such pandemics, and they have claimed the lives of millions of people. In 1918, for example, the Spanish flu pandemic, which originally appeared in Kansas, spread worldwide and killed 50 to 100 million people.
Such infectious diseases - like the current outbreak of coronavirus - are natural phenomena caused by spontaneous mutations.
At the same time, with the help of synthetic biology, it is possible to create completely new pathogens of diseases that no one has ever seen before. The tools and genetic material needed for such experiments are available to anyone with a couple hundred dollars in their pocket and time for the internet.
The bioprotection report, which was supported by both American parties on the eve of Trump's inauguration, warns that the United States is "disastrously unprepared" to deal with such major incidents of any origin. The current administration has also recognized this threat, but has allocated very few resources to combat it.
“If a truly new pathogen spreads among the American population - whether it is brought in by a foreign state or a non-state actor - the government is unlikely to be able to take effective action before large numbers of people begin to die.
Nuclear weapons that cannot be defended against. Nuclear weapons are the most destructive warfare instrument in human history. A single Russian warhead hitting a major American city could kill hundreds of thousands of people and cause widespread panic. Russia currently has more than 1,000 such warheads aimed at America.
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It is for this reason that the United States has a diverse arsenal of nuclear weapons, yet spends only 1% of its defense budget on defense against nuclear weapons, mainly to counter the threat of a limited North Korean attack.
Many experts agree that building an effective defense against a full-scale nuclear attack is a waste of time. This is explained by the fact that nuclear weapons have such destructive power that for any enemy, building up an arsenal will cost much less than creating protection against it.
Some will not be able to correctly assess the risks, some will not be able to maintain their composure during the crisis, and some were insane from the beginning. In addition, the factor of chance cannot be ruled out. The current US nuclear doctrine says very little about how to deal with an adversary who is not deterred by the threat of retaliation.
The collapse of power grids. When the United States Air Force was preparing the first air war plan in American history in the summer of 1941, the agency designated Germany's power grid as a priority target. American strategists realized that with the collapse of the power supply system, other critical facilities and infrastructure would fall down.
Since then, when it comes to any industrial power, including the United States, nothing has changed in this regard. However, a December 2018 report by the US President's National Infrastructure Advisory Council noted that “existing national plans, disaster response capabilities, and coordination strategies will be nullified by catastrophic power outages.”
The document also stated that both natural conditions and attacks by foreign states could be the cause of interruptions. A scenario in which people do not have access to electricity for months due to the inability to quickly replace damaged equipment will lead, according to the council, to serious disruption of society.
And this threat is far from a figment of the imagination of American officials, Forbes emphasizes. Foreign states have long been probing cyber defense of such objects, but power grids can also be vulnerable to attacks from small sabotage or terrorist groups. While there are structures within the federal government that deal with local disruptions, their long-term effectiveness has never been tested.
At the same time, Washington's opponents can combine long interruptions with other actions designed to prevent the United States from responding to aggression.
